Saint Panteleimon's is an Orthodox Christian parish of Russian tradition serving the New South Wales Central Coast and the northern suburbs of Sydney. Our parish includes Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians, and Orthodox Christians of other backgrounds. We are a parish of the Australian and New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church. We use Church Slavonic, the liturgical language of the Slavic peoples, and English, the language of this country, in our services. Established in 2000, our parish is one of the newest in our Diocese.
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We have services on the first and third Sundays of each month and on the preceding Saturday evenings. We also have services on some major feast-days during the week. Our Schedule of Services can be viewed here. Our church is generally only open when we have services. Visitors are always welcome! If you would like to contact us before visiting, it is best to send an email. We check this inbox regularly and will respond to messages within 24 hours. You can also contact us in the same way to arrange baptisms and memorial services. Our parish priest has secular work and study commitments during the week and serves in another parish on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. He is available to talk after Divine Liturgy on the Sundays when we have a service. He can also be contacted by email.
Our parish is a small one that relies on community support and the voluntary service of our clergy to make ends meet. If you find this website to be of interest or of assistance, please consider helping us. Donations may be made directly to our bank account:
St Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Community of Gosford
BSB: 032-596 Account number: 140923
May the Lord bless you!
Our 2023 parish Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at 12.00pm on Sunday 17 December. A formal Notice concerning the AGM is available here. The Notice includes the AGM agenda, an explanation of why AGMs are held, information about preparation for and participation in the AGM, and an explanation of the role of Parish Councils and Parish Council members. A nomination form for parish office-bearers is available here. A form for those wishing to renew their parish membership is available here.
On Saturday 16 December and Sunday 17 December we will have services for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Great-Martyr Barbara (+c.306 AD) and Venerable John of Damascus (+c.777 AD). All-night Vigil will be served at 6.00pm on Saturday and the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am on Sunday. Following Divine Liturgy on Sunday the 2023 Annual General Meeting of the parish will be held. These will be our final services for 2023.
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On Sunday 3 December and Monday 4 December we had services for the Great Feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple. All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Sunday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Monday morning. After a busy weekend in parish life, these festive services were quieter than usual. Our small church was beautifully vested in blue. A highlight of the services was the singing, for the first time this year, of “Христос Раждается” (“Christ is Born”), hymnody from the service for the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) that is sung from this day onwards in anticipation of that feast. At Divine Liturgy, the parish rector was assisted by Deacon Michal Matys and prayers were offered for peace in the Holy Land. A number of those present took the opportunity at the service to pray quietly and receive Holy Communion, and afterwards to share a light morning tea in the church hall.
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On Sunday 3 December Bishop George presented medals and certificates commemorating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the establishment of our Diocese to our clergy, Archpriest James Carles and Protodeacon Martin Naef, and to parishioners Vladimir ("Rick") Golovin, Nina Golovin, Matushka Marie Carles, Kate Marcotrigiano, and Anna Kourbatov. The face of the medal has a portrait of the ever-memorable Metropolitan Hilarion (+2022), the longest-serving Ruling Bishop of the Diocese, and the reverse has an inscription explaining the award. For those interested, further information about awards in the Russian Orthodox Church – and in our Diocese and parish – is available here.
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On Saturday 2 December and Sunday 3 December we had services for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, for the Forefeast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, and in honour of Venerable Gregory the Decapolite (+816 AD). All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening. Early on Sunday morning the parish rector served the lesser blessing of water, following which we welcomed Bishop George on his first visit to our parish since 2019. After the reading of the entry prayers and the vesting of the bishop, the Hours were read and the rite of blessing and consecration of our new iconostasis was served. Bishop George then presided at Divine Liturgy, assisted by the parish rector and by Protodeacon Martin Naef and Deacon Michal Matys. Our parishioners were joined in church by friends from Sydney, Newcastle, and the Mid North Coast, and the clergy were helped by subdeacons and experienced altar-servers from the Fairfield, Wallsend, and Strathfield parishes. The choir, augmented by singers from Strathfield, Croydon, Cabramatta, and Centennial Park, sang beautifully under the direction of Kolya Morozoff. Following Divine Liturgy Bishop George presented our clergy and five parishioners with medals and certificates commemorating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the establishment of our Diocese. A festive lunch was then held at our parish centre. A selection of photographs of the day can be seen here.
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Our Summer 2023-24 Schedule of Services - covering December, January, and February - is now available in PDF format. A copy of the English-language Summer 2023-24 Schedule of Services is available here, and a copy of the Russian-language Summer 2023-24 Schedule of Services is available here. Printed copies are available in church as of the weekend of 19-20 November. Services of note will be Bishop George’s visit to bless our new iconostasis on Sunday 3 December; the Great Feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple on 3-4 December; the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) on 6-7 January; and the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord on 14-15 February.
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On Saturday 18 November and Sunday 19 November we had services for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Saint Paul the Confessor, archbishop of Constantinople (+350 AD). All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served at on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy, prayers were offered for peace in the Holy Land and peace in Ukraine. Following Divine Liturgy, an announcement was made concerning the Annual General Meeting of the parish to be held on Sunday 17 December 2023.
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In the evening on Wednesday 15 November the Parish Council met by videoconference. The minutes of the August and October 2023 meetings were ratified, and the usual reports on parish life and finances were presented by the rector and the treasurer respectively. Plans for Bishop George’s visit on 3 December to bless our new iconostasis were discussed together with the arrangements for the lunch afterwards. The draft 2023 Annual Report was tabled, input was suggested, and changes were agreed it. The Parish Council will next meet, again by videoconference, on Wednesday 15 December 2023. The December meeting will be the final meeting of the 2022-23 Parish Council.
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On Saturday 4 November and Sunday 5 November we had services for the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Apostle James, Brother of the Lord (+c.63 AD). All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. The parish rector was assisted by Deacon Michal Matys on Saturday evening and by Protodeacon Martin Naef and Deacon Michal on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy, prayers were offered for peace in the Holy Land and peace in Ukraine. Following Divine Liturgy, an announcement was made concerning the Annual General Meeting of the parish to be held on Sunday 17 December 2023.
The 2023 Teen Retreat of our Australian-New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outisde Russia will be held in Collaroy, NSW, from Sunday 17 December until Thursday 21 December. More information and a link to online registration is available in the attached image. The ROCOR Teen Retreat Facebook page can be accessed here.
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The 2023 Orthodox Youth Conference (“Syezd”) of our Australian-New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outisde Russia will be held in Melbourne, Victoria, from Tuesday 26 December until Saturday 30 December. More information and a link to online registration is available in the attached image.
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The November 2023 issue of “Word of the Church” (“Церковное Слово”), the official journal of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, is now available in our parishes. Content includes a letter of congratulations from the editor, Mitred Archpriest Michael Protopopov, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of our diocese; a brief biography of the first bishop of our Diocese, the ever-memorable Archbishop Theodore (Rafalsky)(+1955); material on the recent rediscovery in Russia of the original Kazan Icon of the Mother of God; articles in Russian on the Nativity Fast, the symbolism of icons of the Nativity of Christ, and the history of the Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, New York; the fascinating account by Mitred Archpriest Nicholas Karipoff of an Orthodox baptism and burial in the Northern Territory, with the burial having taken place on remote Yolngu land; news of the ordination of a new deacon, Father Apostolos Condolean; the decision of the Synod of Bishops in the case of Abbot Sergius (Shatrov), the respected former rector of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Bombala, NSW; news of Russian community debutante balls in Sydney and Adelaide; and more. Copies are $5.00.
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From 25 June to 1 July 2024 the Fourteenth All-Diaspora Orthodox Youth Conference of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) will be held in Stuttgart, Germany. The All-Diaspora Youth Conferences, which began in Montreal, Canada, in 1972, bring together ROCOR youth from around the world. Over the years, many important friendships have been formed at these conferences. The theme of the 2024 Conference is “Preserving our Orthodox Identity and Heritage in the Diaspora”. It will be held at a retreat in the mountains near Stuttgart and lectures will be in Russian, English, and German. The conference program will also include excursions, sports, cultural activities, and a youth ball. Youth (aged 18-24) of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese who wish to attend should email youth.rocor.anz@gmail.com for further information.
